


Power Outage 1x07 Alternate Ending

by cuddlingqueen



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-15
Updated: 2015-03-15
Packaged: 2018-03-17 21:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3545150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlingqueen/pseuds/cuddlingqueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Barry loses his powers, he talks about how he misses them with Caitlin. She tries to comfort him, which ends in a kiss. Cisco walks in on them. They don’t talk about it the next day, which leads to enough awkward silence that Cisco has to intervene. The first six lines are real dialogue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Power Outage 1x07 Alternate Ending

Caitlin walks in. Barry is staring at his suit. “You think I’ll ever wear it again?”

“I hope so.”

“I didn’t have my speed for very long, but now that it’s gone, it feels like part of me is gone too.”

“With or without your speed, you’re still you, Barry.”

“But I’m not. I’m not the best version of me. I love being the Flash. I love everything about it: the feeling of running hundreds of miles per hour, wind and power just rushing past my face, being able to help people…” He shakes his head. “I’m not sure I can live without it, Caitlin.”

Caitlin leans in.

“You’ll be ok, Barry.”

His face just looks lost. There is no other way to describe it. She puts her hand on his face and strokes his cheek with her thumb. He leans into her hand, which tilts his head, and he closes his eyes. He raises his hand and puts it on top of hers.

“Caitlin, I…”

She needs him to stop talking. He’s going to drown in doubts if he doesn’t. She quickly reaches up and plants her lips on his. His eyes open for a second, but he soon closes them again. He returns the kiss after the initial shock passes. Their hands fall from his cheek down to his chest.

Cisco runs in, his head looking down at his tablet. “Farooq Gibran…” He looks up and stops short. “Oh…”

Caitlin retracts from Barry first, but Barry's face stays the same, still lingering on that moment. Caitlin makes eye contact with Cisco, with a horrified expression. Barry takes a second to catch up, and spins around to see Cisco there. Barry is the first to talk. “We were just, umm…”

There really isn’t an excuse he can cover this with. Caitlin, still embarrassed, speed walks out of room. Cisco is still in shock too. Barry again, breaks the ice. “So, what about Fargo?”

Cisco snaps back into focus. “Farooq. He’s the guy who…” Barry’s attention admittedly slips at this point. Should he go after Caitlin? Was it a mistake? Or did it mean something?

Right now he needed to focus on the matter at hand, as hard as that was.

* * *

They defeated Blackout, and everyone was tired from the long day. Barry didn’t get a chance to talk to Caitlin. It could wait til tomorrow. Though, it did lead to some tossing and turning in his sleep.

The next day, Barry arrived 2 minutes late, per usual. Cisco and Caitlin were already there. They had talked about trying to increase Barry’s speed yesterday, and we’re now back to the matter.

Caitlin wouldn’t look up at Barry. He was a little hurt. He tried to search her face for something, anything that would give away what she felt. But Barry was clueless. Cisco looked up right away and said his morning pleasantries. Cisco and Caitlin continued to talk to each other about the new test they wanted to run.

Cisco: “I’d like to get a control test on the treadmill first before we start anything…”

Caitlin: “Just make sure the subject is well rested first.”

Cisco gave Caitlin a funny look. _Subject_? He waited for her to ask him. Finally he just asked Barry. “How you feeling today?”

“Good.” Barry replied, his standard response.

They proceeded with the experiment.

* * *

The results were coming out on the computer. Cisco was very excited, making lots of ohh’s and ahh’s. Caitlin was excited too, just much less so. After the data was collected, they came to their conclusion. Barry went over to them to find out the results.

“The subject performed above average.” Caitlin said with only a hint of excitement in her voice. She still wasn’t looking at Barry.

Cisco again, filled in the silence. “So Barry, how’d that feel for you?”

“You can tell Caitlin that I thought it went fine.”

Barry was direct in his approach. Cisco was finally picking up on the awkwardness between them now. He hadn’t really noticed before, but all day she hadn’t said one word to Barry. She’d been talking through him.

Silence filled the room again now that they were all on the same page. Cisco couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Ok, that’s enough. You two, come with me now.” He grabbed both their arms and dragged them into the next room. Caitlin pouted and Barry rolled his eyes. He brought them to the center of the room and released them. He walked back towards the door, through it, and then proceeded to close it behind him. Barry and Caitlin realized what was happening and rushed to the door. Cisco whipped out his keys and beat them to it. Barry grabbed the door knob and jostled it; it was locked. Cisco shouted, “See you guys tomorrow!” through the glass, and proceeded to leave. Barry and Caitlin protested, but he didn’t come back.

Barry and Caitlin were now locked in a small room for the rest of the night. The first hour went by pretty quickly. Caitlin had found a tablet in the room and was analyzing some data. Barry had his phone on him at the time and was playing games to pass the time. Another hour went by. Caitlin’s tablet finally ran out of juice; it had been used all day. Barry thought about saying something, but he thought better of it. _Caitlin was the one who wouldn’t talk to him_. It was her problem, not his. And so he waited. A little while later, Barry’s phone died too. Playing games always used up the battery more. They sat in silent thought for the next hour.

Finally, around 4 or 5am, Caitlin broke the silence. “You’re not fine, Barry.”

Barry, who had begun nodding off to sleep, swiveled his head around and rubbed his eye.

“What?”

“You’re not fine, Barry. You’re… you’re better than fine. You can run faster than anyone on earth, and you are still the humblest man I know. You can save the entire city three times over, and you still feel bad about failing one person. You say you’re not a hero, but you are.”

She caught her breath. “Barry, you’re amazing.”

Barry took this all in. He stood up and went over to the other side of the room. He slid down against the wall to sit right next to her. “Is that why you kissed me?”

“No, Barry, I mean, yes but… that’s not why.”

“…Was it a mistake?” She could hear a slight crack in his voice.

“No... Yes. I don’t know...” She was just as confused as he was.

“Barry, I kissed you because I have never seen you look so lost before. You just looked so lost, and I just wanted to help you. I couldn’t stand seeing you like that.”

A smile began to appear on his face. She continued. “I don’t know if a kiss was the right thing to do or not. I really don’t know. But I do believe in you, Barry Allen. And maybe I do have some feelings for you. I just don’t know.”

She slowly put her hand on her forehead. A moment passed before Barry spoke. “I think… I think we can deal with maybe. We don’t have to decide right here, right now if we have feelings, Caitlin. Feelings can come and go, they can linger and sting, or fill you with joy; sometimes they last forever. We don’t have to decide that now, Caitlin. A maybe is ok.”

He pulled her hand from her forehead gently. A smile began to form.

He continued. “If it’s right, it doesn’t need to be rushed.”

If she could have chosen anyone in the world to have feelings for, she was glad it was Barry Allen. She realized their hands had fallen together again. Their eyes locked. She was ready this time. She was sure. This is a man she _could_ fall in love with. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But maybe someday.

She reached over and kissed him; this time Barry knew it was coming. A ray of sunlight was just starting to come in through the window. This kiss seemed like it was never going to end.

Until Cisco walked in.

“Really? Again?” He couldn’t believe in such a short amount of time, he had walked in on them kissing: _twice_.

Caitlin and Barry broke apart in laughter. Barry apologized, “Sorry, Cisco.”

“Hey, it’s better than the silence. I’m glad I could be of help and solve this little dispute.”

Cisco was rather satisfied with himself. Barry rose to his feet in a flash and helped Caitlin up. Barry went over and looked out the window. The sunrise was beautiful. Another question came to Barry’s mind though.

“Cisco… why are you here at 6 in the morning?”

“What do you mean? I’m always here at 6 in the morning.” Barry looked over to Caitlin, who shrugged in agreement. Barry always got there at 9am, at the earliest 8am.

_What did they do every day for two hours without him?_


End file.
